On the evening of October 30th, 2002, Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay of the hip hop group Run-DMC, was shot and killed, aged 37, at his recording studio in Jamaica, Queens, New York City.
Ronald Washington was identified by prosecutors in April 2007 as an accomplice in the murder, although it was alleged that he was accompanied by another individual who shot and killed Mizell. In 2018, almost sixteen years after the incident, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. were indicted for Mizell’s murder, which the indictment alleges was linked to a disagreement over a cocaine deal.
Mizell was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, following a funeral service at the Greater Allen Cathedral in Queens.
